Co-Chair BARAC UK contributes to a new publication by The Fabian Society & Compass on feminism & Labour

Riding The New Wave

Spurred on by social media and the effects of the recession, a new wave of feminism is gathering strength at an impressive pace. Meanwhile, our political parties struggle to offer inspiring solutions to the challenges people face in their daily lives. Is Labour in danger of becoming an irrelevance for this generation of feminists?

Yet Labour can still be a vehicle for contemporary social activists to achieve lasting, systemic change in their fight for equality – if the party can find ways to hang on and enjoy the ride.

Zita Holbourne is co-chair of Black Activists Rising Against the Cuts (BARAC UK), an anti-austerity organisation, that also support family justice campaigns such as that of Mark Duggan. Though she’s active in her community, she writes in a new Fabian and Compass report released today: “The only time I ever see local councillors is when they are canvassing for votes”. In her view, local collaboration is the answer: “For black women to be attracted to Labour party activism, the party must be willing to support our grassroots campaigns in the spaces we have created too”.  This could involve the party campaigning on the multiple discriminations faced by young black people while respecting the fact that BARAC UK’s strong anti-cuts stance does not comfortably align with Labour’s public spending policies.

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/10/what-mainstream-politics-can-learn-new-wave-feminist-activism

With contributions from:

• Ivana Bartoletti, chair of the Fabian Women’s Network and founder of its magazine Fabiana.
• Lisa Clarke, member of the No More Page 3 campaign
• Zita Holbourne, co-founder and national co-chair of BARAC UK
• Natacha Kennedy, academic at Goldsmiths College and a trans activist
• Lisa Nandy MP, Labour member of parliament for Wigan
• Yas Nacati, 18 year old feminist activist and campaigner living in London
• Fiona Mactaggart MP, Labour member of parliament for Slough
• Sue Marsh, writer and disability campaigner who blogs at the Diary of a Benefit Scrounger
• Kirsty McNeill, strategy consultant to some of the world’s leading campaigning organisations
• Anwen Muston, trans officer for LGBT Labour
• Stuart White, director of the Public Policy Unit and an associate professor of politics at Jesus College, Oxford

UK Trade Union Movement Give Full Backing to the Mary Seacole Campaign

UK Trade Union Movement Give Full Backing to the

Mary Seacole Campaign

The campaign to keep Mary Seacole on the national history curriculum has gained widespread support including from the trade union movement. The campaign is organised by Operation Black Vote, Patrick Vernon, founder of 100 Great Black Britons, Professor Elizabeth Anionwu, Khi Rafe, community advocate, Lester Holloway, Lib Dem Race Equality Taskforce, Juliet Alexander, Broadcaster and myself Zita Holbourne, Co-founder of BARAC UK .

Amongst the 70 plus well-known personalities who signed an open letter to Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove  (published in The Times) were several trade union leaders including General Secretaries Mark Serwotka of PCS, Christine Blower of NUT, Mary Bousted of ATL and  Sally Hunt of UCU, the Assistant General Secretary of Unison, Roger McKenzie, former TUC President, Gloria Mills and several members of the TUC Race Relations Committee  together with senior representatives from NUS, PCS, Unite, Unison, CWU, NASUWT and Prospect.

The campaign has been endorsed by the TUC Race Relations Committee who have pledged to donate all proceeds raised at their annual fundraising Dance at the 2013 TUC Black Workers conference to the Mary Seacole Statue Appeal. Planning permission has been given for a bronze statue of Mary in the grounds of St Thomas’s hospital overlooking the Thames but to enable this money needs to be raised. 

 

PCS members in the DfE London and South branch, the government department responsible for the curriculum, have passed a resolution endorsing the campaign to keep Mary Seacole and other black historical figures on the curriculum. 

An Early Day Motion in support of the campaign has been signed by 64 MPs and pressure is mounting on Gove to do the right thing with the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg giving a commitment that Mary Seacole will remain on the curriculum.  

 

I saw a quote recently that said ‘If you don’t know history, you don’t know anything. You are a leaf that doesn’t know it is part of a tree.’ 

The figures that make up our past are like leaves on a tree. Just as if you were to strip a branch of its leaves, it would be left bare,  if you write historical figures out of the history books there will be blank pages. Leaves come in many shades, shapes and sizes just like the people who make up our history are of different genders, races, backgrounds. Together the leaves ensure the tree is nourished and together a diverse range of historical figures provide nourishment for the mind as well as a true record of what went before.

The Government’s proposal to remove black and women historical figures from the curriculum in favour of what they term more traditional figures is ideological,  like the cuts to jobs, pay, benefits and more that are forcing people into deprivation, they are not based on  logic or aimed at improving lives. Equality is not a priority for the Government which is evident from the cuts to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, their proposals to weaken existing equality legislation and the disproportionate impact that cuts are having on race, gender, disability, age and sexual orientation.

 

If we are selective about the truth we choose to teach the next generation then we begin to teach them a lie and not only will they not draw inspiration from the past they won’t learn from mistakes made either. Carter G Woodson who initiated the idea of a  black history month by establishing a USA negro history week during the month of February in 1926 said; ‘What we need is not a history of selected races or nations, but the history of the world void of national bias, race hate, and religious prejudice.’  

 

It's quite right that the trade union movement have got behind this campaign because fighting discrimination is a trade union issue. Trade unions can continue to support the campaign by circulating the petition to their members, raising wider awareness in their branches, asking members of their parliamentary groups to sign the EDM, inviting a speaker from the campaign to their meetings and events and organising fundraising initiatives for the Mary Seacole Statue Appeal.

To pledge your support for the campaign sign the petition.

Zita Holbourne is a member of the Mary Seacole Campaign, National Co-Chair of BARAC UK, a member of the TUC Race Relations Committee and of the PCS Union National Executive.

HISTORY LESSONS TO BECOME PALE MALE AND STALE UNDER CON-DEM PROPOSALS

PAINTING BY ZITA HOLBOURNE

HISTORY LESSONS TO BECOME PALE MALE AND STALE UNDER CON-DEM PROPOSALS

The Con-Dem coalition have proposed that the history curriculum is changed to become more ‘ traditional’ removing black and women historical figures in favour of white men.

History is history and in a world where race and gender discrimination is increasing rather than decreasing it is even more important for the great achievements of black people and women to be known, acknowledged and celebrated particular because most of them had to overcome race and gender discrimination to achieve what they did in order to become the great historical figures and positive role models they have become.

Austerity cuts have impacted disproportionately on equality groups and now it seems cuts to history lessons are headed the same way. It would seem that the Con-Dem coalition are not satisfied with discriminating against women and black people in the present day they want to see us wiped out of history too, disregarded and forgotten.

But what of the children who will be deprived of knowing about the great achievements of women and black people – what kind of message does this send to children in our multicultural and diverse schools – that the only people to ever achieve anything throughout history are pale male and stale?  That women and black and minority ethnic children are second class citizens? Why does the government want to create an education system where the only people who are acknowledged and celebrated for their achievements are white and male? What will this do for the morale of girls and black children? 

 History lessons at school should enrich and inspire - demonstrate that despite the odds stacked against them women, black people and black women like Mary Seacole,  facing multiple discrimination overcame and achieved their dreams, goals and ambitions, fought the systems that worked against them and excelled in their chosen fields, helped others and made valuable contributions to the communities and societies that they lived in leading to some of the rights that many people take for granted today. It is important that children understand how enslavement of African people was fought, how women got the vote and that they know both the positive and negative contributions made by British people through history.

That’s not to say that the lives and achievements of white men cannot inspire also but history lessons should not be restricted to the achievements of one race or gender. Children need a diverse range of role models including black and minority ethnic, white, male, female, LGBT, straight and disabled people and our history was not formed by the lives of white men alone. There should be diversity in the historical figures that are studied in school history lessons. It’s not just important for girls and black children, the white boys need to grow up understanding the value and worth of women and girls and people of all races and religions. 

Teaching school lessons in this way is how prejudices and divisions grow. We should be promoting equality, diversity and multiculturalism in all aspects of the curriculum. Where we came from is just as important as where we are going. It gives us a grounding and a more positive and stable starting point to move forward from.

Today over 40 well known including politicians, trade union leaders, performing artists, authors, academics and activists,  black and white,  women and men united in their stand against government proposals to remove black and female historical figures from the curriculum by signing an open letter to the Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove.

The letter and full list of signatories can be viewed here:

OPEN LETTER TO MICHAEL GOVE 

I hope that Mr Gove will do the right thing and reconsider his proposal and provide a history curriculum we can all be proud of.

Zita Holbourne

National Co-Chair, Black Activists Rising Against Cuts

PAINTING BY ZITA HOLBOURNE